Bio

Shani Jamila is a Brooklyn based artist and cultural worker. Her travels to nearly fifty countries throughout the Americas, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean deeply inform her photography and collage practice. She has exhibited and performed at the Manifesta European Biennial of Contemporary Art, Harvard University, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Smack Mellon Gallery, SCOPE Art Fair, Corridor Gallery, the City College of New York, New Museum and Princeton University.

Shani regularly lectures and hosts live community conversations about art, global engagement and social change with organizations such as the Aperture Foundation, Lincoln Center, Harlem Stage, NYU and the Schomburg Center.

A prolific curator of initiatives that merge culture and human rights, Jamila has worked with museums, government agencies and non-profits on issues including organizational strategy, program development and grant administration. She currently serves as a mentor for NEW INC — the first museum led cultural incubator. She was also the first alumni member to sit on the national selection committee for the New Voices fellowship, which allocated resources to rebuild the post-Katrina Gulf Coast.

Named “One of our 35 Most Remarkable Women” by ESSENCE magazine, she’s been awarded fellowships and residencies to support her work from the J. William Fulbright Foundation and TED. Her portrait and quote are featured in “A Choice to Change the World,” a mural of socially engaged artists and advocates at her alma mater Spelman College.